Nifty ends above 8,700; Coal India up 6%, RIL gains 4%

Markets ended higher, amid strong Asian cues, led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries and IT majors while Coal India gained the most after the coal ministry allowed the company to revert to the old system, removing the cap on e-auction volumes with effect from April 2015.

The 30-share Sensex gained 191 points to end at 28,708 and the 50-share Nifty climbed 54 points to close at 8,714.

“After finding support near 8300 levels, Nifty has rebounded sharply and is continuously trading in the range of higher high and higher lows on the charts. The ongoing rally can stretch upto 8800 level on account of buying among the midcap and small cap stocks," said Mudit Goyal, technical analyst, SMC Global Securities Limited.

"Moreover, 8800 level of the Nifty can be the near term resistance mark, which is 50% retracement of recent downside from all time high to 8270 levels. On the lower side, 8595 level is seen as support zone,” he adds.

CRUDE OIL

Crude oil futures fell by 0.47% to Rs 3,410 per barrel today as speculators indulged in trimming positions amidst a weak trend in Asian markets.

RUPEE

The rupee is trading down four paise at 62.30 against the US dollar today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange. Increased demand for the dollar from importers also weighed on the local currency but the positive trend in domestic equity market limited the rupee’s losses.

Further, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 143.98 crore yesterday, 7 April 2015, as per provisional stock exchange data.

SECTORS & STOCKS

On the sectoral front, 11 out of 12 sectoral indices ended the session in the positive territory with BSE IT, Consumer Durables, FMCG, Metal, Oil & Gas, Realty indices ended higher up to 2%. However, BSE Bankex lost 0.3%. 

Shares of real estate companies closed higher on the bourses on media reports that the Union government cleared amendments to the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, paving the way for legislation on regulators for the sector.

Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL), Unitech, Indiabulls Real Estate, Sobha, Delta Corp, Pheonix, NBCC and Oberoi Realty ended up between 0.5%-4%.

Shares of Coal India (CIL) gained 5% on reports that the coal ministry has removed cap on the state-owned miner’s e-auction sales.

Reliance Industries’ (RIL) most significant recent gas discovery, MJ-1, in KG-D6 block may hold 1.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas resources, roughly half of these in the block’s main gas fields. The stock surged 4%.

From the IT space, TCS, Infosys and Wipro gained between 0.5-2% on the back of a depreciating rupee.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories and its subsidiary, Promius Pharma LLC, filed three new drug applications (NDAs) in support of the company's proprietary products group with the US Food And Drug Administration (US FDA). The stock was up 2%.

The auto and realty stocks ended on a positive note as a cut in rates will lower the EMIs of existing home loan holders and it will increase their purchasing power leading to higher sales for other consumer oriented sectors like auto.

Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and M&M ended higher up to 1%.

Sesa Sterlite was down 2% after rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded Vedanta Resources one notch to 'BB-' from 'BB' with negative outlook, citing expected weak financial performance for at least next 12 more months because of low oil prices.

The country's third-largest private sector lender Axis Bank today cut its base rate or the minimum rate of lending by 0.20 per cent to 9.95 per cent, following its larger peers who also cut their offerings yesterday after Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan's hard talk. The stock lost 0.5%.

India’s largest lender State Bank of India  (SBI) and  HDFC Bank  cut base rates by 15 basis points to 9.85 percent effective April 10 and April 13 respectively. SBI gained nearly 1% while HDFC Bank inched up.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has reversed a seven-year decline in its crude oil production, showing a marginal increase in output in 2014-15. The stock lost nearly 2%.

Shares of Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) extended gains and was up over 2.5% after the government 5% stake sale plan in the company through Offer for Sale (OFS) received full subscription.

Shares of Videocon Industries gained over 3% after direct-to-home company Videocon d2h made its debut on the Nasdaq on Tuesday.

In the broader market, BSE Midcap index ended in line with the large counterparts and was up 0.7%. However, BSE Smallcap index outperformed the peers and ended higher by 1.8%.

In the Smallcap space, Himadri Chemicals, Kitex Garments, RattanIndia Infra, Oscar Investment, Bhushan Steel, TVS Srichankra gained up to 20%.

Market breadth ended strong with 1,802 gainers and 993 losers on the BSE.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets roared back to life today, as Hong Kong returned from a long holiday weekend and Japanese stocks hit 15-year highs.

The Nikkei broke the 19,789 level, while the Hang Seng Index hit 7-year high to end over 3.0%. Shanghai was also up nearly 1.0%, approaching its highest level in seven years.

Tokyo's benchmark index hit a 15-year high on Wednesday after Japanese retail investors ploughed a sizable amount of cash into new stock mutual funds and as regional bourses appeared to  benefit from rotation of funds out of U.S. equities.

Retailers and other domestic-demand oriented shares led the gains, with department store operator Takashimaya erasing earlier losses to gain sharply despite reporting modest earnings.

The Nikkei rose 0.8 percent to 19,789.81, closing at its highest level since April 2000, even as Wall Street shares posted small losses the previous day.